Gland, Switzerland.- The 48th Meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee approved the resolution submitted by the Mexican government supported by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) to ensure wetlands ecosystems water needs worldwide.

The resolution states a call for global action to protect and guarantee water for Wetlands of International Importance recognized by the Ramsar Convention. The resolution also proposes to elaborate a worldwide action plan that includes strategies and tools to define and assign water resource to wetlands in a national or regional scope.

The resolution submitted by the Mexican government to the Ramsar Convention is the result of the National Water Reserve Program experience and the joint work of CONAGUA, CONANP and the WWF-FGRA Alliance, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) support.

This unique program will protect the water of the Natural Protected Areas and Ramsar wetlands of the country through a presidential decree. Furthermore, it has been included within the National Development Plan 2013-2018 and the objectives of the Sectoral Program for the Environment and Natural Resources 2013-2018, the National Water Program 2014-2018, and the Special Climate Change Program 2014-2018.

“A water reserve is the volume of water needed to preserve environmental and ecological functions that benefit society, It´s the water for our future” said Dr. Felipe Arreguín, Deputy Director General for Technical Issues of CONAGUA “the Commission is ready to share this experience to the entire world”.

“The proposal is to take the Mexican government initiative as an example and be able to replicate it on a global call that ensures the future of all the Ramsar wetlands” expressed Eugenio Barrios, WWF Mexico Water Program Director.

Barrios, who is also member of the Ramsar Convention Scientific and Technical Review Panel, explained that Mexico´s contribution is the water conservation strategic approach through water management. In the document, Mexico shows what it has been doing, but most importantly, it shares how it has to be done.

Likewise, Luis Fueyo Mac Donald, National Commissioner of Natural Protected Areas in Mexico (CONANP), pointed out that “wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, as they provide fresh water, food, building materials and biodiversity”.

The head of CONANP mentioned that members of the Standing Committee from countries such as Finland, Cuba, Guatemala, Chile, Canada, Japan and the United States recognized the proposal of the Mexican Delegation and expressed their complete support to the Resolution project named “Call to action to secure and protect wetlands water needs for the present and the future”.

The resolution was included in the agenda of the 12th Meeting of the Conference of Parties of Ramsar (COP12) that will take place from the 1st to the 9th of June in Punta del Este, Uruguay, where it will be globally adopted.

The news was released in the framework of the celebration of the World Wetlands Day 2015, which took place in the Flora and Fauna Protection Area and Ramsar site Nichupté Mangroves. This celebration is held every second of February to commemorate the date in which the Ramsar Convention was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.

Notes for the editors:

About the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands:
It is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework to national action and international cooperation for conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. It has 168 contracting parties with 2,186 Ramsar designated sites with a total surface area of 208, 449, 277 hectares.

The Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Ramsar Convention
The STRP is a subsidiary body of the Convention to provide scientific and technical guidance to the Conference of Parties, the Standing Committee and Ramsar Secretariat. It is composed by a president, a vice president, and 13 members, including the vice president, besides representatives from the five International Organization Partners (IOPs) invited experts and Observer Organizations.

About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and experienced independent conservation organizations of the world. WWF was created in 1961 and it is known for the panda symbol with a global network that works in more than 100 countries. Its mission is to stop the degradation of the natural environment of the planet and build a future in which people live in harmony with nature, preserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring the sustainable use of renewable natural resources, and promoting reduction of pollution and carless consumption. To know more, please visit www.wwf.org.mx and www.panda.org

About Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation
Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation was established in January 2000; it is run by a board of trustees and support health projects, including addictions prevention programs, and conservation projects focusing in watershed treatment and restoration as well as activities that promote the best water use practices. To know more about the Foundation, please visit: http://www.fgra.org.mx/